Review of Samuel Adams White Ale
Posted By Ken Sunday, 05 April 2009 10:47
April is a great month of the year when the crossover between Spring and Summer seasonal beers is taking place, allowing for a wider arrange of seasonal selection. Last night while hanging with friends at Buffalo Wild Wings and playing some trivia I decided to try the White Ale, as this was not one I had tried in the Sam Adams lineup before, and more importantly I tried it because of just the fact it was Sam Adams. To date everything I have tried from them I have liked. See if the White Ale kept that streak going by reading on.
Ken's Review
Taste: A- The Samuel Adams White Ale is an interesting beer. The taste starts a little hoppy then goes into this plethora of different spices and fruit tastes. The taste is complex but somehow comes together to make a really smooth and enjoyable drinking experience. It's one of those that has so much going on that it's hard to nail down specifics in the taste, yet almost so good you don't really care how it works.
Packaging: B Outside of a handful of different styles, the Samuel Adams packaging is pretty consistent outside of the coloring on the label. This one is done with a light blue shading, and shows the trademark Samuel Adams holding up a pint on the bottle. I'm not really sure why this one gets that color label exactly, but I can't complain.
Value: B+ Samuel Adams seasonals run around $8 to $9 a sixer, depending on where you find them. I actually had this one on draft and paid $5.25, which was a little pricy, in my opinion, but I wouldn't be against throwing down the sixer price to have some to enjoy periodically after its run is over soon. Depending on what you are in the mood for, and how hard you are looking to drink, it could be a toss-up on picking this up.
Drunkeness: A- Samuel Adams White Ale does not disappoint in alcohol content, coming in at a nice 5.4%. I say this is nice because while it is a little higher in content than some, you also get the benefit of a smooth taste to go along with it. This can be a little dangerous, as the taste is so good you might forget how many you are drinking and that this 5.4% is going to compound fairly quickly. Be careful on this one, as it is not hard to get to a hangover point the next morning.
Overall: A- This seasonal was once a full-year release, disappeared for a short time, and was brought back for a yearly January to April availability. While I will anticipate drinking this again next year, the only complaint I had was that unlike a lot of seasonals this one didn't actually have a feel of being a spring selection. The taste was great, but there are some seasonals you drink that you can tell why it was released during a certain part of the year. This one seems more like a filler for the months of Jan to April, but is still worth trying out while you can.